This invention relates to an edge trimmer guide for a sewing machine. More specifically the invention contemplates providing a guide means for an edge trimmer which is removably connected to a needle bar of a sewing machine as a unit.
A conventional edge trimmer for a sewing machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,089, invented by the present inventor. The substance of that patent will be discussed below.
There is an upper lever pivotably supported by an L-shaped arm of a stand positioned on a base or by a bent arm of a stand integral with a holder. One edge of the upper lever is movably fastened to a needle bar of a sewing machine by a needle clamping screw for fastening a needle to the needle bar through a needle clamp body concurrently while the other end thereof is pivotably connected to one of the projected arms of a lower lever through a connecting link. When the upper lever thus constructed oscillates in unison with an up and down motion of the needle bar of the sewing machine, a cutter which is fastened dependingly to the edge of the other projected cylindrical arm of the lower lever shifts up and down with the result that the cutter thereof touches slidingly with a shearing edge defined along the front edge of the L-shaped arm portion of the base or a shearing plate fastened to the holder, whereby an edge of cloth material fed by the feeding device of the sewing machine may be trimmed.
While the edge of the cloth material is fed by the feeding device of the sewing machine toward a desired position a cloth guide plate with an upright wall along the edge thereof arranged on the L-shaped arm portion of the base located underneath the projected cylindrical arm of the lower lever equipped with the cutter serves to guide the trimmed material to be fed forward along the upright wall in a desired direction.
As the cloth guide plate is intended for guiding the trimmed material and is not designed for guiding the cloth material up to a position at which the cloth material is cut by the cutter and the shearing edge. This position may hereinafter be referred to as the cutting position.
Therefore, an operator should always handle the cloth material to be trimmed with care in order to bring it smoothly up to the cutting position from the start of the feeding operation of the cloth material.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide an edge trimmer guide which aids in feeding cloth material up to a cutting position automatically from the start of the feeding operation.
A conventional edge trimmer for a sewing machine is unmovably set on a sewing machine bed by way of a setting means such as screw means and so forth before starting feeding operation in such a way that the edge trimmer is placed at a desired position relative to a presser foot fitted to a presser foot bar of a sewing machine.
To set the edge trimmer on a sewing machine bed at a desired position relative to the presser foot already fitted to the presser foot bar by adjusting the setting means requires a great deal of skill on the part of the operator.
It is thus another object of this invention to provide a presser foot which is integral with an edge trimmer base to eliminate an extra adjustment of the setting means and is also designed to obtain a fixed position thereof relative to the cutter for smooth operation in cutting of the cloth material, which enables an operator to eliminate an extra adjustment of the setting means.
Other and further objects of this invention will become clear upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims and various advantages not referred to herein will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.